Four Fallen
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Four fall with Ace and Kat's fourth encounter.


Title: "Four Fallen"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Four fall with Ace and Kat's fourth encounter.  
Warnings: Het, Death  
Disclaimer: Ace Ventura and Spike are © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Detective Kathleen "Kat" O'Hara, Captain, Jacob, Doctor Catalina Tregarde, and all other characters mentioned within are © & TM Pirate Turner and may not be used without permission. The author makes absolutely no monetary profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

He had searched for her throughout the city, kept his eyes peeled through every mission and every trip, searched every face in every shop and apartment building, but yet the place he found her at long last was the last place he would have never thought to look. She was kneeling on the side of the road, her black car parked several yards behind her with its lights still on. His first thought, as he slammed on his brakes, was that she had been hurt, but then, even as he all but snatched his car to the side of the road, he reminded himself how ridiculous a notion that was. If she was what he suspected, very little could harm her, if anything. She was a most formidable woman; formidable, strong, dangerous, and breath-takingly beautiful, he thought the last as he noticed how the golden rays of the early morning sun shone upon her fiery red hair until it almost seemed to spin into a glorious life of its own.

His eyes strayed from her hair to the three small fires that burned just in front of her. His forehead creased, he wondered if her anger could have at last cost her and hoped it had not. He flung open his door and barely glanced for traffic before walking swiftly toward her. She was chanting softly in a foreign language he did not recognize but silenced as soon as he began to approach her. She raised her head, and he was shocked to see tears shimmering in her emerald eyes as she looked him. "I did nae kill 'em."

"I didn't say you did," he countered, his pace slowing as he eyed her warily. He wondered, for the first time, if she might be telepathic.

"They were . . . here on the pathway this mornin'." She shouldn't have broken down like this, she reprimanded herself angrily, not out in the open where any one or anything could see her weakness. Nae, she corrected herself, showing passion, even with tears, for animals was never a weakness; that was one of the most important lessons her beloved grandfather had taught her. Still, for this ignorant, little cábúnach to have caught her crying . . .

"The pathway?" Ace questioned, breaking into her thoughts with one raised eyebrow.

She nodded as a part of her wondered why she was even bothering to talk to this human. She had no need to explain herself to any one now that the only humans she'd ever cared for were dead. "I drive th' roads e'ery morn'. This family was . . . They became . . . " It shouldn't be this hard to talk, to concentrate pass the thought of a family of three being slaughtered, yet her eyes kept drifting back to their makeshift funeral pyres and her mind continued to run in circles. She snarled suddenly, her emerald eyes flashing, and he gulped nervously as he saw flames dancing therein. "I should've been here. I should've killed th' bloody . . . "

She stopped suddenly, and her fierce gaze rose to him. Ace felt as though, with but a gaze, she simultaneously stripped him and burned straight through his skin. He paled, gulped again, and tried to speak, but no words would come to his frightened tongue.

"Why th' Hell am I talkin' tae ye? I din't owe ye or any one any explanation." Her fire burned within her eyes.

"I . . . hum . . . I . . . I stopped to . . . to . . . "

"Tae what?" she countered. "Tae help? Th' day I need a human's help," she snarled, her upper lip curling in emotions that he could not determine whether they were stronger in anger or disgust, "is th' day I send me own self tae the grave. Get outta here 'fore'n I light up yer life."

"You already did that," he blustered.

Her eyes flashed, and a chill raced through him. "I have nae yet, but I could very easily." A fireball formed in the palm of her hand, and she tossed it up and down. "Din't push yer luck, Ventura. Jest because ye have some animals an' Tregarde fooled din't mean ye've got me fooled. Ye're just another damn human, an' I haven't fired yer ass yet fer their honor, but ye keep pushin' yer luck, ye'll end up nothin' but soot."

Ace felt his heart dropping pass his shoes. He wanted to argue with her, but his eyes were glued to her fireball. She was exactly the fiery bitch he had expected, and the thought of what she could do to him scared him more than anything else he'd ever faced before. "O-o-o-o-o-o-o-okaaaaaay," he ground out slowly. He backed up then, never taking his eyes from her, and returned to his car, but before he could shut his door, his tongue got the better of him. "Remind me not to screw with crazy bitches before they've had their morning coffee, Spike."

Kat raised her fireball, but Captain's frantic mew as he raced from the open car window to her side and the sight of the monkey chattering madly on the back of Ace's seat caused her to vanish the fireball. She sighed and kicked herself as she let him speed away. She'd have to kill him now that she'd slipped up and told him her secret, but she couldn't do it as long as it risked the life of even one animal. "Bloody bastard," she hissed.

Ace's mind whirled fearfully at first, but though his brain soon calmed, his heart continued to pound within his thin chest. Four had fallen, he reflected sadly. Three had been killed on the blood-thirsty highway by careless, heartless humans, but one had fallen victim to something that might well prove to be even more dangerous. That one was him.

"You've gotta stay away from her, Ventura," he told himself sternly, but even as Spike, his constant companion, chattered his firm agreement, he thought with a mixture of dread and excitement, that that probably wasn't going to be possible. After all, the world might be big, but it wasn't big enough for two Pet Detectives to keep from bumping into each other.

He could only hope he'd continue to survive their encounters, but as he drove away, he couldn't help leaving a tiny piece of his heart with the redheaded lass who was anything but a damsel in distress. The vision of her emerald green eyes clouded with tears haunted him, and his fingers curled tightly around his steering wheel as he longed to be able to wipe those tears away. He sighed deeply with regret, knowing that the proud, brave, and beautiful woman would probably never let him but aching to nonetheless.

**The End**


End file.
